The Taste of Ink
by Lena and Liz
Summary: Four year-old Dominic asks Happy about the meanings behind his tattoos. Companion piece to High Heels and Dirty Deals. Characters: Happy, Dominic, Maria.


**Disclaimer**: We own nothing except the original characters and are making no profit.

**Backstory**: This is a companion piece to _High Heels and Dirty Deals, _but it's not necessary to have read that to understand this. Hap and Maria are living together in Tacoma. Dom is four years old.

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**The Taste of Ink  
**"_So here I am, it's in my hands,  
__And I'll savor every moment of this.  
__So here I am, alive at last,  
__And I'll savor every moment of this."  
_- "The Taste of Ink" by The Used

**February 26, 2007  
**_Tacoma, Washington_

"Daddy?"

Happy's natural instincts had him subconsciously awake, alert, and assessing the situation before his conscious brain registered anything. With the voice quickly identified and deemed nonthreatening, he slipped back into a relaxed half-sleep, his eyes never opening as his wife snuggled contentedly into his bare chest.

"Daddy?"

The voice was louder this time, coming from his right at the side of the bed.

"Daddy, are you awake?"

"No."

The little boy's forehead wrinkled in confusion at the response, his four year-old brain not able to comprehend the sarcasm. Frustrated, Dominic grabbed his father's arm and used it as leverage to climb up onto the bed, much to the man's annoyance.

"What're you doin'?" Happy grumbled sleepily as he felt himself involuntarily shifting to brace against the unwelcome weight pulling on his arm. His mission successfully completed, the child plopped down onto the biker's tattooed torso, eliciting a surprised grunt from the man. "Seriously, kid. It's-" He turned his head and cracked an eye open to glance at the clock on the bedside table, "-seven a.m.? Jesus fucking Christ!"

"Shut up," said the disgruntled Latina from her position next to him. "I'm tryin' to sleep."

"So am I," was the muttered reply. An impatient Dominic began to bounce on his father's kidneys, causing Happy to growl darkly. "Stop."

"Daddddy..." the boy drawled innocently, peering down at the man with large brown eyes. "I want chocolate pancakes for breakfast!"

"Good for you. I want another five hours sleep."

"Dadddy..."

"Ask your mother."

"Mommmmy..."

"Later, baby, when the sun is up."

Dominic sighed in resignation at his parents' joint agreement on the situation. He decided to wait out the remainder of the morning right where he was and made himself comfortable between his parents, much to their protest. His new position gave him an up-close view of the ink adorning the top half of his father. Tiny fingers traced the dark outlines carefully as he examined each tattoo.

"Daddy?"

Happy rolled his eyes and ran a hand over his face wearily. "Yeah, kid?"

"Why do you have so many pictures painted everywhere?"

Completely hungover was never the best state to be in when attempting to converse with the child, as the parents had discovered on many occasions. It had yet to deter them from trying though.

"The hell you talkin' about?"

"Pictures, daddy." To emphasize his point, Dominic jabbed his fingers into Happy's skin in various places.

"Tattoos, Dom. They're tattoos."

"Oh... why do you have so many tattoos painted everywhere?"

With a sigh, Happy gave up on his quest for sleep and tilted his head to look at his son. "Because I like them. They each have a special meaning to me – certain events, people, dates."

"Why is there a picture of a kitty on your arm?"

Dumbfounded silence reigned before laughter burst out of Maria's mouth, earning a glare from her lover.

"It's a tiger," came the indignant reply.

"Oh... why is there a picture of a tiger on your arm?"

"'Cause they're the predators of the wild. And they're badass." Maria rolled her eyes at his response as he smirked.

"What's this one?" Dominic asked, pointing to a large dragon. "He's cool!"

"Chinese zodiac. Year of the dragon, mightiest creature of all."

The boy nodded, satisfied with the answer as his curiosity increased with each explanation. "What's this one?" His tattoo of interest this time was a demon with a blade.

Happy rolled his eyes, wondering how long this game was going to last, but answered nonetheless. "That's Hades, god of the underworld. And that-" he pointed to the bulldog-like demon on his opposite shoulder, "-is his guard dog of sorts, a hell hound."

Dominic scrunched up his face as he examined the pictures. "I don't like them," he said matter-of-factly, shaking his head for emphasis and earning a giggle from Maria. "I like this one." He indicated an intricately detailed cross on the inside of the man's arm.

"That one is for your _abuela_. And this one-" he pointed to the cursive script reading '_In Memory_'on his chest_, _"is for my _abuela_."

"Do you have a picture for mommy?"

Happy smiled softly, moving his right forearm into view. "Your mama is my angel," he said quietly, gesturing to the winged woman tattooed gracefully into his skin.

The child closely analyzed the face, then turned to his mother. "It looks just like you, mommy! Do you like it? I like it."

Maria smiled broadly at her son's excitement and replied, "I love it as much as I love your daddy." The couple's eyes met and Happy pressed an affectionate kiss to her forehead.

"Where's my picture?"

The adults ended their brief moment together and turned their attention back to their son. "What do you mean '_where's my picture_'?" Happy asked him, amusement laced in his features. "You think you got a tatt, do you?"

Dominic frowned, failing to catch the playfulness in his father's voice. "Mommy has one. _Abuela_ has one. I want one too." The biker presented his wrist to him, showing off the numbers '_11-28-02_'. Staring at it quizzically, the boy said, "I don't get it."

"That's the day you were born, kid."

The frown didn't leave his face even as the confusion melted away. "Oh."

"Oh?" Happy quirked an eyebrow at the lack of enthusiasm. "All I get is an 'oh'?"

"Well, mommy got her whole face. And _Abuela_ got a pretty cross. I want something big!"

Both parents grinned at their son's blunt answer. "What'd you have in mind, _mijo_?" Maria asked gently, running a hand through his wavy dark hair.

"I want a dinosaur! Or Lightening McQueen. Or Optimus Prime."

Maria laughed as Happy shook his head in amazement. "We'll see about that," he said. "Go get dressed. We're goin' out for breakfast."

"To get pancakes?" Dominic asked excitedly, tattoos immediately forgotten about.

"Yeah, yeah, to get pancakes. Go."

The boy dashed from the room, his feet thudding down the carpeted hall. Sighing as the room fell quiet again, Maria snuggled back into Happy's side now that there was no longer an obstacle between them. "You're not really gonna get a tatt of Optimus Prime, are you?" she asked, a slight worry that his dedication to the boy would end with a giant red robot permanently etched in ink on his skin.

"Not a chance."

The trio made their way down Fourth Avenue in Maria's SUV two hours later. They had all eaten their fill of various pancake flavors at Elaine's diner, with Dominic wolfing down an entire stack by himself, indicating his appetite certainly came from his father's genes.

"Now where are we going?" the boy asked from his place in the backseat.

"You'll see," Happy muttered nonchalantly, even as his son continued to pester him for clues. They pulled up to a building a few minutes later, the words _Evil Ink Tattoos_ scrawled artistically on the sign above the entrance. They walked in as a family, Dominic's eyes wide as he looked at the drawings covering the walls.

"Woah," he said breathlessly, taking it all in. "Is this where you get your pictures, daddy?"

The biker nodded, smirking at his son's reaction. "I get a lot of them here, yeah. I also draw pictures for other people too," he said, referring to the fact that he would frequently pick up gigs as a tattoo artist for some extra cash.

They stopped at the front desk where they were greeted by a skinny dark-haired man covered in tattoos. "Hap, s'up man? Awful early for a tatt." The friends clasped hands before smacking each other on the back in a manly hug.

"Yeah, thanks for opening up, bro. I owe you one."

"Don't sweat it." He turned to Maria, offering her a bright smile before focusing his attention on the young boy. "You must be Dom. Your old man talks about you all the time."

Dominic grinned at the words, loving the fact that his father mentioned him to his important friend people. "Who are you?"

Rolling her eyes at her son's inherited lack of manners, Maria picked the boy up and settled him on her hip. "This is daddy's friend, Jay. Say hello."

"Hello," he replied with a wave, completely oblivious to the lesson his mother was trying to teach him.

"He's actually the reason we're here," Happy said, taking over the conversation once again. "He doesn't think me tattooing his date of birth permanently on my body is good enough."

"I see," Jay said with a smile, turning back to the kid. "And what would you like him to get, buddy?"

"Lightening McQueen!"

"Not exactly," Happy replied, waving at dismissive hand at his friend's confused look at the mention of the cartoon character. "I was thinking about getting his name done Old English style across my lower back."

"Yeah!" the boy screamed excitedly. "I like that idea. Make sure it's big!"

Happy rolled his eyes, but nodded to the tattoo artist nonetheless. Jay smiled and directed him to the computer, where they spent the next few minutes deciding on a particular font and size. Maria walked over with Dominic, who grinned his approval at seeing his name in bold lettering on the monitor.

"You don't have my name tattooed anywhere," Maria whispered playfully in his ear as she leaned into his shoulder.

He looked down at her, a mischievous gleam in his eye. "Yeah? I got somewhere I can put your name, so long as you show it some TLC." He grabbed crudely at his crotch, smirking when she giggled in response.

**end.**

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**Authors' Note: **Sorry for the long wait! Hope you guys enjoyed this cute little one shot. I know it ends a bit abruptly, but I was getting bored with it. Hap gets the tatt, Dom loves it, the end. ;) If you're wondering about Hap's reference to Maria as "his wife", I honestly don't know. You can take it however you want - either that he just sees her as basically his wife or that they legally got married. We honestly can't decide if Happy would ever really get married or not.

I'm looking for a beta reader to help with the revamp of HHDD, so if anyone is interested, shoot me a message here or at my personal account, _Bellicose_.

I made a deviant art for those of you that like fanfiction pictures and banners and such. Most of it is HHDD related, so you can check out the link in our profile if you're interested.

Translations: "_Abuela_" = grandmother; "_Mijo_" is a slang contraction of "_mi hijo_" meaning "my son".


End file.
